You don't need a cable bill to keep watching CMT. Here's every way to stream it online, and how to do it for free.
Reviewed and updated July 2026 by our cord-cutting team · 11 options
If pop music has MTV, then country music has CMT, the biggest showcase of country music stars, videos, concerts, documentaries, and more. If you’re a cord-cutter wondering where to watch the channel without cable, then we’ve compiled a list of where to start.
CMT is available without cable on Fubo, DIRECTV, Philo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV + Entertainment Extra, YouTube TV, Spectrum TV Stream, or Spectrum TV Choice.
The cheapest way to watch Cmt is Philo for $25/month.
We routinely follow over a hundred live TV and streaming services in the US, closely monitoring their plans, features, and channel lineups. All of that work is on our cord-cutting hub.
Beyond this, we have been reviewing the best on streaming services since 2013, recommending highly-rated but little-known movies and shows: we find the gems that you haven't yet watched, that you will probably like.
Yes, with a free trial. CMT is on Fubo, and you can watch it free for Fubo's 7-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
Fubo is no longer just for sports. The live TV streaming service has become a staple in cord-cutters’ homes because it offers everything from major broadcast networks to entertainment channels like CMT. However, sports is still where it excels. Even after losing key channels like TNT and TruTV, Fubo still has plenty of regional sports networks and specialty sports channels. So if you happen to be a country music fan with an appreciation for sports (or at least live with someone who does), then it’s hard to go wrong with Fubo.
It leans heavily on sports, and a regional sports fee of a few dollars up to about $17 by ZIP gets added on top.
Fubo plans
Yes, with a free trial. CMT is on Hulu + Live TV, and you can watch it free for Hulu + Live TV's 3-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
Hulu with Live TV’s features aren’t all that different from the competition, but its on-demand catalog gives it an edge. The Disney+ subscription that comes bundled with it gives you access to Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar films. Meanwhile, Hulu on-demand boasts an award-winning catalog of originals, including shows like It’s All Country and documentaries starring the likes of Carrie Underwood and Dolly Parton. It also has Country Music Award shows from previous years (Prime Video has the rights now). If you want solid on-demand shows paired with your CMT viewing, Hulu is likely the way to go.
It caps you at two simultaneous streams, the fewest of the big live-TV services; lifting that cap costs about $10 more a month.
Hulu + Live TV plans
Our breakdown of Hulu + Live TV →
Yes, with a free trial. CMT is on DIRECTV, and you can watch it free for DIRECTV's 5-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
You could say DirecTV Stream has it all: great DVR capability, crisp streaming quality, multiple simultaneous streams, on-the-go viewing, and an extensive selection of live channels. That includes CMT and other music networks like MTV, Revolt, and VH1. And if you wanted more channels, you can easily add them individually or through add-ons. Range and customization are where DirecTV Stream wins. That said, it’s hard to overlook the streamer’s sky-high price. DirecTV Stream is a nice option if you can afford it, but there are other services with similar channels (albeit less features) you can choose from.
The price climbs steeply between tiers, and a regional sports fee gets added on top.
DIRECTV plans
Yes, with a free trial. CMT is on Philo, and you can watch it free for Philo's 7-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
At just $28/month, Philo is a budget-friendly live TV streaming service that carries plenty of lifestyle and entertainment channels. Among them are CMT, MTV, and VEVO for music lovers, and AHC, INSP, and MeTV for classic and traditional TV fans. It’s a worthwhile service as long as you don’t mind getting news and sports channels elsewhere.
It carries no sports and no local channels, so it only covers entertainment and lifestyle networks.
Philo plans
Yes, with a free trial. CMT is on YouTube TV, and you can watch it free for YouTube TV's 7-day free trial. Cancel before it ends and you pay nothing.
Perhaps more than any other service in this list, YouTube TV is the easiest and most familiar to use. The channel guide, DVR control options, and interface itself will feel familiar and intuitive even for beginner cord-cutters. The service has channels ranging from local to national, sports to entertainment (including CMT, MTV, and VH1). But for good measure, it also offers add-ons to elevate your viewing experience. The only significant downsides to YouTube TV are its high price and limited on-demand libary.
At around $83 a month it's one of the priciest options, and add-ons push the bill past $100 fast.
YouTube TV plans
No. Sling TV doesn't carry CMT.
No. Paramount+ doesn't carry CMT.
No. Peacock doesn't carry CMT.
No. Frndly TV doesn't carry CMT.
No. Disney+ only streams the Disney family (ABC, FX, Nat Geo, ESPN and the Disney kids channels), and CMT isn’t part of it. The best way to watch CMT without cable is YouTube TV above (free-trial).
No. HBO Max only streams the Warner Bros. Discovery family (HBO, Discovery, HGTV, TNT, CNN and the rest), and CMT isn’t part of it. The best way to watch CMT without cable is YouTube TV above (free-trial).
No. There’s no Prime Video Channels add-on for CMT, so Prime can’t stream it on demand or live. The best way to watch CMT without cable is YouTube TV above (free-trial).
The honest way to watch CMT for free is a free trial, and the trick is not to spend them one at a time. Start one, then start the next when it ends, and you can string together a few weeks of free live TV back to back, usually enough to cover a tournament or a playoff run without paying for a month.
If you're cutting cable for CMT, odds are you want CBS too. It's a sister channel, so every service above that carries CMT carries CBS as well, and the same free trials get you both. See our full guide to watching CBS without cable for the per-service breakdown.
| Service | From | Free trial | Plans | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fubo |
$84.99/mo | 7 days | 2 | Get it |
| Hulu + Live TV |
$82.99/mo | 3 days | 2 | Get it |
| DIRECTV |
$94.99/mo | 5 days | 4 | Get it |
| Philo |
$28/mo | 7 days | 1 | Get it |
| YouTube TV |
$9.99/mo | 7 days | 2 | Get it |
CMT and the US services that carry it are geo-locked to the United States, so your login stops working the moment you leave the country. A VPN fixes that: connect to a US server and the service sees a US address again. The catch is that streaming platforms actively block most VPN traffic, so the VPN you pick matters far more than the service does. These three reliably get back in:
A huge US server network (thousands of IPs across 15-plus cities) with SmartPlay DNS baked into every server, so streaming just works without extra setup. The best value of the top tier on a two-year plan.
Best for streaming CMT with: Hulu + Live TV, Philo
Get NordVPN →The budget pick, and the one to get if the whole household travels: it allows unlimited simultaneous devices on one account, plus a Smart DNS for TVs. Reliable with the on-demand and lifestyle services.
Best for streaming CMT with: Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, Philo
Get Surfshark →Whichever you pick, connect to a US city first, then sign in to CMT or the service that carries it as normal. Choose a VPN with a money-back window so you can confirm it un-blocks CMT before you commit.
No. CMT is a cable channel and doesn't broadcast over the air, so an antenna can't pick it up. An antenna only gets the free broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, The CW), which pair nicely with one of the services above; check which of those reach your address here.
Every service that carries CMT runs on the major streaming platforms, so you can watch on just about any TV, phone, or console. Here's how, device by device:
On Roku, you can watch CMT through Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV, Philo, and YouTube TV. To set it up, add the channel from the Roku Channel Store, sign in, and open CMT in the live guide.
On Amazon Fire TV, you can watch CMT through Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV, Philo, and YouTube TV. To set it up, download the app from the Amazon Appstore, sign in, and open CMT in the live guide.
On Apple TV, you can watch CMT through Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV, Philo, and YouTube TV. To set it up, install the app from the App Store, sign in, and open CMT in the live guide.
On Android TV & Google TV, you can watch CMT through Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV, Philo, and YouTube TV. To set it up, grab the app from the Google Play Store, sign in, and open CMT in the live guide.
On Chromecast, you can watch CMT through Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and Philo. The gap: DIRECTV and YouTube TV don't offer a Chromecast app. To set it up, cast it from your phone or use the built-in Google TV app, sign in, and open CMT in the live guide.
On Samsung & LG smart TVs, you can watch CMT through Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV, Philo, and YouTube TV. The gap: Fubo doesn't offer a Samsung & LG smart TVs app. To set it up, install the app from your TV's own store (Tizen or webOS), sign in, and open CMT in the live guide.
On phones & tablets, you can watch CMT through Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, DIRECTV, Philo, and YouTube TV. To set it up, download the app from the App Store or Google Play, sign in, and open CMT in the live guide.
On game consoles, you can watch CMT through Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV. The gap: Fubo, DIRECTV, and Philo don't offer a game consoles app. To set it up, download the app from the Xbox or PlayStation store, sign in, and open CMT in the live guide.
Cheapest is the question everyone starts with, and it's the wrong place to stop. A $35 plan that drops CMT the month after you sign up hasn't saved you anything. So the first number we pay attention to is the real one, what you owe after the introductory month ends, not the figure in the ad. From there it comes down to whether the channels you actually want sit in the base plan or get stranded in an add-on, how the service behaves day to day (a slow app and a useless DVR wear on you faster than you'd expect), and how much of a fight it puts up when you decide to leave.
Whatever lands at the top of a list like this is the service that gets most of that right for the most people. Once in a while that's also the cheapest one. Usually it isn't.
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